


the end of what you know

by starlightwalking



Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Back to Middle-Earth Month, Bingo Bonus, Cheating, F/F, Femslash, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:34:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23269294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starlightwalking/pseuds/starlightwalking
Summary: Elwing leaves her tower for the last time.
Relationships: Arien/Elwing (Tolkien)
Kudos: 6
Collections: Back to Middle-earth Month 2019: Bingo Bash Redux, Back to Middle-earth Month 2020: Endings and Beginnings





	the end of what you know

**Author's Note:**

> For B2MeM 3/16/20 - and also for a combo from last year, O74, which didn't get a hit but intruiged me enough to write a Bingo Bonus thing. Except I never got around to it until now!
> 
> Last year's prompts were Arien/Elwing [Crack Ships], Fool [Archetypes], and “My desolation does begin to make a better life” [Shakespeare Quotes]. This year's prompts were "LOCATION burned" [First Line] from the generator and this quote for the official prompt:  
> ‘Mithrandir! Mithrandir!’ men cried. ‘Now we know that the storm is indeed nigh!’  
> ‘It is upon you,’ said Gandalf. ‘I have ridden on its wings. Let me pass! I must come to your Lord Denethor, while his stewardship lasts. Whatever betide, you have come to the end of the Gondor that you have known. Let me pass!’ (Return of the King, Book V, Chapter 1)
> 
> Originally I thought I'd go more of an Icarus vibe, but this turned into something difference. Also, I don't necessarily see Elwing and Eärendil's relationship actually being like this, but there's certainly enough in canon to extrapolate to such a situation. Plus, every fandom needs more femslash!

The white tower burned.

She had leapt from it as she often did, her silver wings stretched wide, bearing her upward to meet her husband's ship in the sky. But this day was different from the others, for Eärendil returned not alone, but with a mortal woman on his arm.

"Elwing," he had said, his face grave as she hovered before him and the girl who shrank into his embrace, "I can explain."

But she did not let him. She would not be his fool, not again. She knew he had not chosen the fate he wished, all those ages ago, knew he wished he had passed from this realm. He had done it for her, he said, and yet—

She was not enough. She never had been, not even when she bore him twins. She could not keep him home then, and his journeys now led him further and further from her tower. She was alone there, alone in a colorless world, watching his star wander across the sky, set in far away lands, where he could find others to warm his heart and his bed, not his cold and distant wife, not her—

So Elwing left without a word, and screamed her pain to the sunrise. She did not expect the sun to cry back.

Foolish girl she was to think the sun would not hear her: not when she was the wife of a star, or had been. Yes, Arien heard her grief, and answered it, drawing her fiery carriage to the white tower and warming the empty coldness in Elwing's heart.

"Daughter of Ilúvatar, what ails you?" she asked, and Elwing beheld the beauty of the sun, and loved her.

She told Arien all. "I am in desolation," she wept. "It is the end of everything."

Arien smiled. "Only the end of what you know."

Elwing raised her eyes, and felt her burdens rise from her shoulders. "What do you mean?"

"You need not stay here," Arien said simply. "You never did. You fly among the stars, little bird; why let a tower keep you bound? One star alone is not enough to keep you from all others. Abandon this desolation; make a better life."

"May I fly with you?" Elwing asked. "For a time, at least?"

"For as long as you wish, and may we outshine your foolish husband." Arien reached forth a hand, and Elwing took it. "He knows not what he misses."

"He will," Elwing promised, shedding her silver wings for gold. "Will you do me a favor, Lady of the Sun?" And by the answering smile, Arien already knew what she wanted.

Thus Elwing leapt for the last time from the white tower in which she had for so long dwelt alone, and in the blaze of the rising sun Arien set it alight; and all mortals saw that day as a seabird's shadow rose alongside the chariot of the sun.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading and commenting!  
> You can find me on tumblr [@arofili](http://arofili.tumblr.com/).


End file.
